Mobile Shredder for Residents

Shredding personal documents serves a double purpose-- to recycle paper as well as protect sensitive information against identity theft -- the fastest growing crime in the nation. Westchester residents may bring confidential personal papers for shredding to any one of the following events. Residents can bring up to four file-sized (10”x12”x15”) boxes of confidential papers per household. Remove all large binder clips and covers. Papers from businesses, institutions or commercial enterprises are not acceptable and will be rejected, as will any junk mail or newspapers.

Important InformationService at the events works on a first-come-first-served basis, as the Mobile Shredder unit can reach its maximum capacity before closing time.

It is important to be aware of what you place the paper to be shredded, no matches, lighters or anything combustible. Staff at the events will be checking the material prior to being shredded.

Residents are required to stay in their vehicles. Staff will attend to you.

This is for your own safety.

No walk ups, please.

In extreme weather, events may be cancelled or terminated early. Please call the county's Recycling Helpline at (914) 813-5425 to check on a cancellation or early closure.

Since its unveiling, thousands of residents have brought their confidential papers to be shredded and hundreds of tons of paper have been recycled. Can't make a Mobile Shredder Event date? No problem! Check out our Household Material Recovery Facility (H-MRF) where residents can bring their documents for shredding, as well as hard-to-get-rid-of household chemicals and other materials.

Bring the shredder to your communityContact your local municipality if you would like to have the Mobile Shredder come to your neighborhood. Municipal departments who want to schedule a ‘shred-a-thon’ can e-mail us with the request at .

Shared public servicesBesides residential use, county departments and local municipal offices use the Mobile Shredder to free up valuable inventory space often occupied by outdated documents, while at the same time, it ensures that confidentiality is preserved. Several municipalities had been paying private shredding companies to dispose of their documents, but the county will now be providing this service to them free of charge.

As part of the county’s commitment to sharing services and developing strategies to consolidate and help reduce costs, the use of the Mobile Shredder is offered to all Westchester public schools. As schools are often vast repositories of personal information about students and their families, the Mobile Shredder serves as an important tool in the proper and complete disposal of these sensitive documents.

If you would like to schedule the Mobile Shredder for your school or public office, e-mail or contact us.

Kinds of documents to shredRemember, it's best to shred documents you're no longer using, that contain personal identifying information such as name, address, phone number, credit card number or social security number. Such documents should be shredded before they are thrown out for recycling. Some examples are:

expired credit card statements and receipts

old tax returns or any other personal documents containing you name, address or other identifying information.

pre-approved credit card applications

licenses

As this service is gaining in popularity, residents should be prepared to wait as lines are sometimes long. However, the wait doesn't have to be that long. Come prepared. This means you've removed all metal clips, fasteners, binders, folders and hard covers and placed the papers loosely in a box. Hard covers – cardboard or plastic covers on items such as ledger books, marble composition books and hard-cover books – cannot be shredded and will be turned away. Residents must rip pages out from hard cover books for shredding and throw the covers in their regular household trash. Up to four boxes of papers are allowed for shredding.

For more information about identity theft, call the Dept. of Consumer Protection (914) 995-2155. For questions about recycling, call (914) 813-5425, the Recycling Helpline.